The Railway Man tells the extraordinary and epic true story of Eric Lomax, a British Army officer who is tormented as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labour camp during World War II. Decades later, Lomax discovers that the Japanese interpreter he holds responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him, and his haunting past. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, and starring Academy Award-winner Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine, and Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman, the film is a powerful tale of survival, love and redemption.

Composer David Hirschfelder enhances this powerful story with a richly dramatic score.

Cool. I like Hirschfelder. He has a nice sound. I love his score for AUSTRALIA, probably my favourite by him. This film was shown in the UK a few months back but I didn't see it. The trailer was scored with that traditional/chorale piece from THIN RED LINE, which had me thinking it was from the score, until I recognised it.

I recall seeing the film (it was released in Australia late last year) and I found the music the most enjoyable aspect of the movie. Glad Varese is releasing it. Will definitely have to pick up a copy.

1. The Railway Man — Opening Titles (2:41) 2. Brief Encounter (3:52) 3. The General Idea (2:40) 4. Fall Of The British Empire (2:12) 5. What Do You Think, Eric? (4:18) 6. His Whole Life Has Been Trains (3:41) 7. Building The Radio (1:57) 8. Discovering The Radio (1:19) 9. Axis Forces In Full Retreat (2:30) 10. The Bravest Thing I’ve Ever Seen (3:05) 11. The Death Railway (5:24) 12. I’m Going To Send Him A Message (2:31) 13. Bamboo Cages (1:27) 14. At The Beginning Of Time (2:19) 15. The War Graves (:47) 16. The Bad Things We Did (2:17) 17. The Drowning Room (2:24) 18. The Home Coming (4:32) 19. Maybe We Both Lived For This Day (6:55) 20. The Railway Man — Closing Suite (9:22)

Around 65 minutes...nice. That's one dull cover though! I did see another poster for the film that was more colourful and attractive to me...wish they would have used that one. Still, it's the music that counts and Hirschfelder is a pretty solid composer.

Has anyone heard that pop/classical/opera/world music hybrid CD he composed with singer David Hobson (In This Room)? It's strange but quite compelling.

I've still gotta watch this film (it's in my TiVo library) but the score is a real slow-burn grower. It's one of those soundtracks which gets better and better every time you listen to it, revealing something new and interesting*. I've got one question for anyone who's seen the film. During track 18 - The Home Coming - around the 3 minute mark, he starts playing out some strange orchestral effects and then the music completely cuts out, to return a second or two later with some soft drums. Is this a track fault or the proposed effect? It just sounds so weird. I've never heard owt like it before.